Wednesday Comics: DC, March 1984 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm reviewing the comics released on the week of December 15, 1983. 

New Teen Titans #40: Perez delivers a great cover, but on the inside, he and Wolfman are back with the Brother Blood stuff I don't really like. The Titans are guests on Bethany Snow's TV show in a segment regarding proposed arms shipments to Zandia. The Titans, led by Wonder Girl, are unable to convince the other guests or the audience of the true evil intentions of the guy named Brother Blood whose live via satellite in a blood red outfit with a horned and fanged mask. He's just too darn charismatic! Dick figures out that the congressmen appearing on the program in support of Blood are actually his followers. Later, disguised as newsman Joe Walsh, Dick accompanies Bethany Snow and the three politicians on a fact-finding tour to Zandia, only to have his true identity uncovered by Blood's cult. Getting an emergency signal from Dick, the other Titans crash Blood's temple in their T-sub but get knocked out by gas. They awaken to find themselves about to be lowered into his weird pool of blood--and Dick in Brother Blood's thrall.

Superman #393: Rozakis/Cavalieri and Novick/Giordano discover yet another creep kind of obsessed with Lana: the super-villain called the Master Jailer. We last saw him back was in Superman Family #221 back in '82. He has a pretty ingenious plot, marred by his nuttiness. He targets Superman with missiles that fuse Green Kryptonite to his costume, and his costume to his skin. Superman appears to have succumb to the poisoning in the Fortress of Solitude. Next, the Jailer goes after Clark Kent. He looks all over town but has a tough time tracking him down. When he finally confronts him, Clark is revealed to be Superman--wearing a Clark Kent mask. He defeats the Master Jailer and reveals who he used a Bizarro device to make Bizarro copies of the Jailer's missiles that then exploded and de-Kryptonited him.

Arak Son of Thunder #31: Colon is back on art, though much of this story is a reprint of the Thomas/Colon/DeZuniga preview of Arak in Warlord #48 (1981). Arak relates that incident to Satyricus in context of a story about about a girl named Amber who was a slave to the viking jarl, Ottar. He contests with Sigvald for her, with Ottar planning to give the girl to whoever brings him the biggest piece of amber. Although, Arak successfully retrieved a larger piece of amber, he returned too late. Ottar died while he was away and, in the Viking tradition, his slave girl was killed with him. Arak began to think of leaving the company of the vikings as a result, which he soon would. 

Batman #369:  Moench and Newton/Alcala return to Alfred and his daughter, Julia. They're in Montreal investigating Jacques' murder. They must be on to something, because someone keeps trying to kill them. After more than one close call, Alfred calls in Batman for help. It turns out the assassin is Deadshot, who is so eager for revenge on Batman, he starts making blunders regarding the job he's supposed to be doing. Julia is desperate to avenger her father and is getting reckless, too. A well-timed Batarang at Julia's gun, keeps Deadshot from killing her and her from killing Deadshot. Batman interrogates Deadshot and the assassin reveals to their surprise that it was Jacques Remarque who hired him!

Flash #331: Bates/Cavalieri and Infantino/McLaughlin conclude the story from last issue. Flash lets Grodd think he's finished him, so the ape lets his guard down and let's Angelo go. Flash springs into action and uses his speed to actually move Grodd in front of his own mental blast. Solovar and the Gorilla City crew show up to bring the Flash home and take Grodd into custody. Meanwhile, the police are looking for the missing Barry Allen and somebody plants a bomb in the office of the Flash's lawyer. Hearing the explosion over the phone, the Flash races to save him, but will he be in time?

G.I. Combat #263: Continuing the story from previous issues, the Mercenaries managed to best the Yeti creature and grab the cobra statue--which doesn't appear to be made of anything like the gold and jewels they were promised. Still, the women with them are going to take it back to the temple, so the Mercenaries follow along to keep them out of harm. Good plan, because they do get attacked. Back at the temple, the old man uses some liquid to reveal it's true, golden, jewel encrusted form. He gives the Mercenaries a ruby each. They leave, but then Gordon decides he wants to go back for the woman he's sweet on, but the temple and its inhabitants have disappeared.

The two Haunted Tank stories continue to get mileage out of Craig's son, Eddie, now being a member of the crew. This particularly comes to the fore in the second story which has a frame story of Eddie writing a letter to his mother (Craig's estranged wife) regarding recent events where a fuel shortage for both sides starts as problem but ultimately becomes an advantage for Stuart's Raiders as they're able to take out a group of immobile Panzers solo after that fill up courtesy of captured German vehicles. In the first, Gus' background as a minster is highlighted as he struggles with the commandments of his faith and his duty as a soldier. In the end, though, Kanigher doesn't really have anything profound to say about that, but it's good to see Gus get the spotlight.

The nonseries story is about a bomb disposal team dealing with a bomb made with a particularly tricky fuse. It no doubt carries an additional air of verisimilitude as the writer, Paul S. Newman, served as a tech with a bomb disposal unit.

Omega Men #12: Broot and Shlagen part company with the rest of the Omega Men on Rashashoon. Broot feels he has delayed too long finding his wife. They follow coordinates stolen from the Citadel to a near-lifeless planetoid. There they discover radiation-poisoned Changralynian youth toiling away. They have never met their captors or heard of the Citadel. They work in the name of their religion. At their temple, Broot is horrified to discover that the blind priestess is his wife, Kattayan-Bish.

Meanwhile, the other Omega Men led by Primus race back to Euphorix. They arrive only moments too late. Kalista has re-activated the energy shield and destroyed the controls so that it can't be lowered again.

Star Trek #2: Barr and Sutton/Villagran continue from where last each left off with another almost pitch perfect evocation of Trek. Kirk and Lt. Bryce are in spacesuits attempting to get into the Klingon station hidden in wormhole space while Saavik in a shuttlecraft attracts the Klingon's attention. Captain Koloth (presumably not the same as the one in TOS) is smart though and suspects the shuttle may be a ruse. He orders extra guards and also has guys watch his helmsman Konom, who was the one who secretly signaled the Federation. After some fights and quick thinking, Kirk, Bryce, Saavik and Konom escape via the transporter--but only after Kirk leaves a bomb whose detonation causes the base to return to normal space. Koloth chooses to blow his crew up rather than be captured.

Interestingly, there is foreshadowing of STIII here in some of McCoy's thought balloons. The Klingons are very much of the ST:TMP mold, not the version with less elaborate makeup we'll get in STIII and later. The only detail that seemed off to me is Bryce opening fire on disintegration setting on a group of Klingon guards. It seems like the Starfleet way might have been to stun them, but I can't think of a completely analogous scene in a TOS episode to compare. 

Greyhawk: Medegia

The See of Medegia is a territory ostensibly within the Great Kingdom of Aerdy that is under direct sovereign rule of the Holy Censor of the Aerdian Church of Law. Though the reach of the Censor's ecclesiastical authority has diminished with the decline of the Great Kingdom, he remains one of the most powerful and wealthy rulers in the eastern Flanaess.

The Church of Law has ever tied to the Aerdi, their kings, and kingdom. While the various Hierarchs of Law of the Flanaess were independent, they were in communion, and the Hierarch of Medegia was invested as Holy Censor, guardian over the doctrine of Law and moral guide to the Malachite Throne and the entire Kingdom.

Most Medegian church houses, including its great basilica, were originally dedicated to Pholtus, the Blinding Light, though Legalism being a transtheistic faith, this was not true of other churches in other lands. Today, the iconography of Pholtus persists, but the stern-faced deity is little favored by the current Holy Censor, his most senior clergy, or the other highfolk of the land. The Divine Law has varied manifestations and champions, so why should they not pray to Zilchus, whose doctrine of material prosperity for the faithful is more amiable to their wealth and privilege?

Despite the Holy Censor's roll as advisor to the Overking, neither the indolent Hierarch nor his flattering and generous orthodoxy are favored at court. Ivid is rumored to have become enamored of an antinomian heresy wherein, as a divinely favored monarch, he is above the precepts that bind others. The Censor is, of course, concerned, but not overmuch, so that his enjoyment of his position isn't soured.

The Hidden Religions of D&D: Druidism

This one isn't so much hidden, but hey, when you've got a series title, you gotta stick with it. Unlike with the Church of Law which has been obscured by tme, I think people have a good idea of what Druidism in D&D is: it's neutral and associated with Nature. In the Greyhawk setting and other places it's the "Old Faith" standing in perhaps for pre-Christian beliefs of Europe but without the Christianity.

I think there's another way to go, though, completely consistent with what the original works tell us about druids.

Druids first show up as monsters in the Greyhawk supplement. We are told they are "priests of a neutral-type religion." They can shape change and attractive barbarian followers.

They become a class in Eldritch Wizardry where they are described again as Neutral and "are more closely attuned to Nature, serving as its priests rather than serving some other deity." Mistletoe is holy to them, and they protect plants and animals.

Neutral may well just have been meant to imply unaligned here--not taking a side in the conflict between the civilizing force of law and the destructive forces of chaos: "I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care for them," as Treebeard would have it. But maybe it's not just the woods the druid cares about?

Unlike Law and Chaos which seem to be transcendent and come from extraplanar forces, maybe Nature in this context is the cycles and balance of the material world? Given the description in Eldritch Wizardry, it seems likely to me that the religion of the druids is pantheistic with Nature (or the material plane) being an immanent divine force or deity. It could be animistic with everything in the natural world having a separate spirit, but it might also be monist, where divine Nature is the only true reality.

I think then that the druid's neutrality is a somewhat militant sort. The dualism of Law vs. Chaos is contrary to their understanding of the unity of all things; the strong, opposing polarities are nonsensical if existence is governed by cycles. Worse, these ideas from the Outer Planes would be alien intrusions on the harmony of the world.

Wednesday Comics: DC, March 1984 (week 1)

My continuing mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics that were at newsstands on the week of December 8, 1983. 

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #11: Mishkin/Cohn and Colon reach their penultimate issue with Amethyst leading the many of the houses of Gemworld in an assault of Dark Opal's castle with Prince Topaz recruiting his sister and Lady Sapphire to their cause and joining them. But Dark Opal now has all the gems and has the armor forge his breastplate, which he puts on before it cools in a bit of Victor von Doom-esque rashness. He gives Sardonyx to the Emissaries of Varn to avoid paying his debts, but Carnelian plots betrayal. The final confrontation between Opal and Amethyst looms!

DC Comics Presents #67: Wein and Swan/Anderson do a holiday-themed issue, teaming Superman up with Santa Claus. I can't quite say that this sort of thing doesn't occur to today, but it is definitely relegated to holiday one shots of dubious continuity reference. In the waning Bronze Age, this sort of reminder that comics are children's media, or meant to appeal to the child in adults, was still allow in mainstream titles, if in small doses. The villain of this one is naturally the Toymaker, who is hypnotizing kids with gimmick toys on Christmas Eve. Santa Claus helps Superman out, then gets help delivering his toys. 

Atari Force #3: Dart has a potentially prophetic nightmare about Blackjack's death. They buy a ship to head back home, but they unknowingly get a vessel sabotaged by the Dark Destroyer's minions. It leaves them stranded in space in a dangerous situation with enemies approaching. Meanwhile, Packrat is caught by his brother and law enforcement only to escape again with his brother on his trail. Morphea rescues Babe from the unscrupulous smugglers. Chris continues to train with his powers and deal with his anger regarding the prejudice that cost him his relationship. Conway and García-López/Villagran are still getting the team together.

Blackhawk #268: Evanier and various artists (Spiegle, Howell/Giacoia, and Wildey) deliver another issue of solo "Detached Service Diary" tales. Blackhawk deals with a skeptical, know-it-all reporter who refuses to see the Nazi threat, even when getting shot at. Andre deals with a German general and a French collaborator stealing art and jewels by manipulating them to have a falling out with each other and German command. Finally in a holiday themed tale, Olaf, after crashing in a rural area, is helped by a Jewish family and gets the Hanukkah spirit.

Fury of Firestorm #21: Killer Frost discovers that the accident that changed her is also killing her, and that doesn't improve her disposition. Firestorm is trying to find her but can't. The police are being unhelpful thanks to one of the detective's understandable distaste for vigilantism. He's trying to close the Goldenrod case. Ultimately, though, Frost's rampage makes her location apparent. Firestorm rushes to confront her but, in the battle, takes an ice spike through the shoulder. Too weakened to fight, Stein suggests they just let Frost attempt to drain them. She does and is apparently melted away, trying to cope with Firestorm's nuclear heat. Firestorm stumbles to Lorraine's house and passes out.

Justice League of America #224: Busiek and Patton/Giordano pits the League against Paragon, a vigilante out to eliminate the inferior 90% of the population and has the power to duplicate the powers or abilities of any anyone. What he can't do is stand up to the coordinated attacks of the Leaguers combined, particularly with those with unduplicatable powers (Red Tornado and Green Lantern leading the way). An interesting thing about this issue is the opening with Ollie, Clark, and Hal getting together like three buds for a meal in Star City. The dialogue suggests that Star City is located somewhere besides the East or West Coasts, perhaps meaning Busiek conceives it as on the Great Lakes?

Vigilante #4: Newton is on pencils this issue. Chase and his team are riveted to news regarding a murder of the leading man, Clark Reynolds, one half of a classic Hollywood couple by wife and co-star, Grace Moore. Chase gets to attend the trial and Moore's testimony generates a lot of sympathy, but then someone assassinates a witness for the prosecution. Vigilante gets involved dealing with a series of identically dressed, masked assassins. Again, Vigilante makes reference to his quick, but intensive training that turned him from a normal guy to nearly superhuman. In the end, it turns out Grace Moore is not as wholesome as her screen image. She was cheating on her husband, and when he found out, she killed him lest he ruin her reputation. She hired the cybernetic shut-in called the Controller to assassinate witnesses against her with his robots. Wolfman again leans into the Reagan era elements of this sort of character highlighted with some moralizing about the lack good role models and cultural decay. I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt that the fact Moore got caught with another woman is just an incidental detail and not meant to be further indication of her depravity.

Wonder Woman #313: Mishkin and Heck have Diana Prince assigned to track down the missing Major Griggs which leads to a confrontation with Circe and her mysterious ally that manages to bind Wonder Woman's wrists--and of course Circe's man-beasts including Griggs. Meanwhile on Paradise Island, Sofia goes up against the Amazon hierarchy investigating why Hippolyta is hiding things from Diana.

In the Cavalieri and Burgard/Martin Huntress story, Huntress manages to escape the angry mob and capture Terry Marsh who she interrogates with some fists to the face until he spills it regarding Earthworm. She surprises the villain and a goon in his lair, and even Earthworm's rat minions don't slow her down. However, Earthworm avoids capture by somehow passing through narrow bars.

Appendix M: A Weird Medieval Fantasy Reading List

 And the M is for "Medieval." I've read some dark and/or weird fantasy set in the Middle Ages of late, and I figured I'd put them together in a list with some complimentary works for those that might be interested.

12th Century:

Mitchell Lüthi. Pilgrim: A Medieval Horror. A German Knight and his companions agree to smuggle a Holy relic out of Jerusalem for the Pope but wind up transported somewhere else by a gigantic sandstorm and confronting cosmic horror.

Clark Ashton Smith. “The Maker of Gargoyles" (In 1138, gargoyles come to life and terrorize the city of Vyones), “The Holiness of Azédarac” (a priest travels through time from 1175; in the future he discovers a sorcerer as managed to get declared a saint). 

13th Century:

Clark Ashton Smith. "The Colossus of Ylourgne." In 1281, a necromancer and his disciples take revenge on Vyones with an undead giant. 

14th Century:

Christopher Buehlman. Between Two Fires. In 1348, as the Black Death ravages France, a disgraced knight and a young girl may be the ones who can keep Lucifer and his legions from bringing about Hell on Earth.

Jesse Bullington. The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart. In 1364, A pair of German brothers from a long line of graverobbers embark on quest to make their fortune looting the crypts of Egypt. They encounter monsters, magic, and madmen along the way.

Clark Ashton Smith. “The Beast of Averoigne.”  In the summer of 1369, a comet heralds the arrival of a strange beast to ravage the lands around the Abbey of Périgon.

15th Century:

Jesse Bullington. The Folly of the World. In the aftermath of the St. Elizabeth's Flood, three conspire to take a treasure from a town beneath the water. 

Greyhawk: The Iron League

by Anna Meyer

The Iron League was a separatist alliance formed in 447 CY for mutual defense against the Great Kingdom. While the members made much rhetorically of the demoniac apostasy and madness of the Naelax, the League's greatest concern was economic. None of the trading cities wished to allow the profligate Aerdy nobility to root like pigs in their accumulated wealth.

The association's core members had histories stretching back to ancient, Suloise, maritime city-states. While the Aerdi gained suzerainty over the region, the regional lords were content to allow a great deal of local self-rule (so long as they benefited from the ongoing trade), and in time became intertwined with the Suloise population through marriage and alliance with the local oligarchic families. Intra-region conflict between local nobles, powerful families and guilds was a more pressing concern until the Herzog's heavy-handed treatment prompted the member states to set aside their differences. At least for a time.

Although the League was founded primarily for military purposes, it did possess a confederal civil government. The ruling council, composed of representatives of the individual states, was fairly limited in its power outside of military matters, but was given the ability to control custom duties and adjudicate disputes between regions.

This is a follow-up to this post. I drew inspiration for the Iron League from the Lombard League and communes of North Italian and their relationship with the Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperors. Given their Suloise history and their climate (Hot summer Mediterranean, according to Anna Meyer's climate map), I felt like their Suloise history might well amount to something like the Phoenician city-states. Visually, the continental states would look something like Sicily, Southern Italy, or parts of the Iberian Peninsula, except the Lordship of the Isles which is more humid and more like Florida.

Wednesday Comics: Comics Related Gift Suggestions

Here are some suggestions for comics related gifts for this holiday season:

Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: All the classic Marvel calendar images from '75-'81 are collected in this hardcover. It features art by Buscema, Miller, Simonson, Perez, Kirby, and more. Who doesn't want to see the Hulk as George Washington at Valley Forge?

Hobtown Mysteries vol 2: The Cursed Hermit: I've been charmed by this quirky series of stories probably most succinctly described as "Twin Peaks meets Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys." Creators Bertin and Forbes present a small, coastal Canadian village with a lot of weird stuff going on under the surface. The Teen Detective Club—a registered after-school program makes it their business to get to the bottom every one of their town's bizarre occurrences unraveling the secret history of their town as they go. You'll want to read volume one first.

World's Finest: Teen Titans vol 1: Spinning out of the Waid's World's Finest we get a tale of the original Teen Titans, that homages the Silver Age while by completely modern. Waid's approach to this these link series brings a lot of warmth and a bit of humor in addition to the superhero action.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End vol 1: I've talked about how good this fantasy manga about what happens after the party completes the epic quest is before (back when #11 came out). Alas, there's no bundle of all 11 (currently) volumes, but this is where you want to jump in.

Duke vol 1: I was skeptical of the Energon Universe re-imaging of Hasbro's toy properties when I first heard about it, but the Duke limited series won me over. Not every limited series has been as good I don't think, but this one and Cobra Commander are well worth your time if you have any interest in the 80s iteration of G.I. Joe.

DC Comics Style Guide: Early this year Standards Manual announced they would be reprinting the fabled DC Style Guide from 1982 with that gorgeous José Luis García-López artwork that set the standard for the look of the DCU for a generation. It ain't cheap, but you can pre-order this hardcover here. 

Thinking Greyhawk

Over the past month, I've been reading some historical fantasy (Between Two Fires and His Black Tongue), some straight historical stuff (rpg supplements from Codex Integrum and the season on Frederick II of the podcast History of the Germans), and most recently, taking a real look at the World of Greyhawk (1980) folio.  All this stuff knocking around in my head led me to believe it might be interested in borrowing an old idea from Miranda Elkins and doing a series of blog posts developing a version of Greyhawk derived from the folio, with a Medieval history sort of feel.

I'll be using the 1980 folio as the only "canon" though I'm not opposed to taking material from the 1983 boxset and the Dragon articles written between and around the time of both publications. I'm trying to avoid more recent Greyhawk material. In keeping with the other recent inspirations, I'm going channel the historical wargamer Gygax over the pulp fan Gygax, and also I'll be using some of the ideas derived from examination of the pre-Greyhawk implied setting of D&D.  

Wednesday Comics: DC, February 1984 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics hitting the stands on November 22, 1983.

Action Comics #552: Wolfman and Kane get back around to what was going on with the Forgotten Heroes, last seen 7 months ago in issue #545. Dane Dorrance, Cave Carson, and Rick Flag have been brought together with Animal Man, Dolphin, and Congo Bill, by the mysterious Immortal Man. They find they all have one thing in common: they've seen a great, golden temple in their last exploits, knowledge of which was hushed up by the government in many cases. Now Immortal Man tells them that in order to defeat a menace to the entire world, they must destroy Superman! Meanwhile, Vandal Savage has manipulated Superman into a position where dormant plant organisms Savage caused to colonize the Man of Steel to enter an active phase, growing giant vines to menace Metropolis. 

Detective Comics #535: Moench and Colon/Smith reveal that Jason Todd wasn't killed in his very first outing as Robin, but he seems to have a concussion. When he wakes up, he's acting oddly. He sucker-punches Batman and heads out dressed as Robin. He goes to Crazy Quilt's hideout where the villain's goons are waiting in ambush. Batman recovers a few minutes later and follows a clue Jason left him. He arrives in time to take out some thugs, but Crazy Quilt seems to be getting the better of them until Jason realizes he needs his helmet to see. Having hypnotized Crazy Quilt with his own reflected light, he makes him remove his helmet attachments.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and Patton/McManus, Star City beginning to seem a really ridiculous place. Not only are the Werewolves over the top in their Mad Max stylings, but as Green Arrow and Ozone are trying to escape them, their resident inventor reveals he's turned a shack into a flying contraption. In the end, our heroes have the black box snatched from them by the Detonator.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #16: Arion and friends are walking home after leaving the city of Mu. Arion reveals to Chian that in bis battle with Garn, he didn't kill him, but rather absorbed him somehow. Since that time Arion has felt the evil inside of himself. The magic energy sword that Arion found in Garn's tower in Thamuz has amplified the effect urging the mage to bloodlust.

Arion and his companions are then captured by a group of animal men, victims of experiments by Atlantean scientists. (This seems a reference to the animal men of New Atlantis in Warlord, bring closer together DC's never completely in sync views of Atlantis.) Bylgor, the leader of the animal men hates all Atlanteans for the crimes committed against him, and moves to kill Arion, until the disgraced General Balar, who happens to be hiding out with the animal men, intervenes. Balar wants Arion for himself, but though forced to use the magic sword to win, Arion doesn't kill Balar. The animal men allow them to leave in peace.

Meanwhile, kingship isn't pleasing to Wyynde, but once he's introduced to his intended bride Fawndancer, he starts to warm to it a bit.

All-Star Squadron #30: Wonder Woman tells Liberty Belle about the Justice Society's recent, all-out fight against the Black Dragon Society. Most of the issue by Thomas, Howell, Machlan, and de la Rosa, is the usual split the team to squash the various plots of Black Dragon, but the real reason for the story's existence seems to be to address the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans during the War. The story is admittedly softer in its condemnation than a comic would be today. Still, for kid's media in the 80s it does a decent job. 

New Adventures of Superboy #50: Giffen provides the art for the cover and 30th Century framing sequence, and he is moving ever closer to his mid-80s style. Nylor Truggs, a 30th Century criminal, steals the H-Dial from a museum and goes back in time to ally himself with 20th Century criminal Lex Luthor. The 20th Century sequences are by the usual art team of Schaffenberger/Hunt. The Legion of Super-Heroes travels back to team-up with Superboy to help stop them. Krypto also returns from space to help out. Truggs breaks with Luthor but uses the dial to empower a team of villains. As all of the villains are defeated, they transform back into their regular forms--and they turn out to be Bash, Lana, Pete and Lisa. The dial gets destroyed, so it can't get returned to the museum in the 30th Century after all.

Jonah Hex #81: Fleisher and Ayers/DeZuniga have Jonah have a change of heart and rescue Turnbull from his rattlesnake bite. Maybe this is so Turnbull can clear his name, but the issue doesn't make any comment. Anyway, the story purpose is clearly so they can be uneasy allies against a common foe, namely El Papagayo and his band. Not that Turnbull doesn't try to double cross Hex on a couple of occasions, still, at the issue's end they are both in a buggy--when the dynamite Papagayo planted goes off. 

During all this time, Hart and Mei Ling are getting close, and Emmy Lou (dressed as sexy cowgirl this time instead of Indian) decides she needs to leave to get Hex out of her mind.

World's Finest Comics #300: This issue is an all-star jam with segments written by Kraft, Barr, and Wolfman, pencils by Andru, Texeira, and Amendola; and Janson, Smith, Maygar, McLaughlin, and Rodriquez. It primarily features the JLA and the Outsiders teaming up to thwart Zeta who after all is soul-searching has made himself the god of his alien creators and is continuing their mission. The Titans only feature briefly, just to show us they have their hands full in New York. 

A group of the JLA and the Outsiders try to stop the invasive tree on Earth while Superman leads another JLA contingent to rescue Batman. The first group is successful against the tree but is captured and crucified by the aliens to be taken to Zeta, Superman and his bunch also encounter Zeta who easily defeats them, turning all but Superman to stone.

Meanwhile, Batman is bouncing around through time. In a prefiguring of Crisis, the alien assault seems to occur in multiple eras. Batman encounters Sgt. Rock, but more helpfully, manages to free Halo. Making their way to Zeta, Batman and Superman confront him. They final shame him into changing his ways. He restores the JLA and sends them with the Pantheon to save the planet that sent out the Cosmic Tree. 

In the aftermath of all this, Wonder Woman encourages Batman and Superman to give up their disagreement and reconcile, which they do.

L. Sprague de Camp: Most Gygaxian Fantasy Writer?

I don't know Gary Gygax's preferences in regard to authors of fantasy fiction, but I feel pretty strongly that L. Sprague de Camp (1907-2000) is the closet in sensibility to Gygax himself, at least in the earlier days of D&D. 

De Camp makes several appearances in Appendix N. I haven't read all of these works, but the ones I have read demonstrate some characteristics I get from Gygax's worldbuilding and from his early fiction that I have seen. There is some content similarity (like universe-hopping, crossovers with the works of other authors, and hierarchical planes of existence), sure, but what I'm mainly thinking of is more of a structural or attitudinal alignment. 

For one thing, I think it's fair to say that Gygax's work shows a concern with realism and degree of pedantry around certainly topics: Extensive list of polearms, obscure terminology, etc. De Camp gives us an extensive exegesis of REH's naming in the Conan stories and also an analysis of the same stories' technology. He wrote a series of Sword & Planet stories (the Krishna series) that makes a point of addressing the unrealistic elements of Burroughs' and others' similar stories.

It seems to me there was a logic to Gygax's D&D work. I'm sure this is in part due to it being in a game where you have to be prepared for player action, but it resembles the application of rational consideration of elements in fiction as in the Harold Shea stories or The Carnelian Cube.

Both men also have a fondness for humor in their fantasy. While this isn't an uncommon trait and is found in the work of a number of Appendix N or adjacent authors, I feel like use of anachronism for humorous purpose is something found in Gygax's work that also occurs in the Harold Shea series. Less than totally heroic or unheroic protagonists (often the humorous effect) probably describes a lot of D&D, but also several of de Camp's Krishna novels and his Reluctant King trilogy.

As to Gygax's later work, I've only read a couple of the Gord novels and that was decades ago, but I don't recall them being particularly de Campian. Maybe his sensibilities shifted over time or perhaps they reflect a desire to better compete in the fantasy market that existed in the mid-80s. Still, I think on balance, the similarities are there.

The Hidden Religions of D&D: The Church of Law

Thinking about rationalization of the implied setting of D&D, not in the way of industrial magic or anything like that (though I've done that before) but in the direction of how the implied setting of D&D might point toward its religions or belief systems. Sure, there's the explicit fantasy polytheism, but as others have pointed out, it's undermined by the (at least up through AD&D) presentation of the cleric class as vaguely sort of Medieval Christian and by the fact that historical polytheism didn't work like D&D thinks it does. As Delta puts it:

...D&D claims to have a polytheistic religion, but you've got both the politics and the critical Cleric class set up as in the medieval Christian world, and nowhere else.

Is there a more interesting and perhaps more realistic way weave together the elements presented? I think so.

Note that Clerics of 7th level and greater are either "Law" or "Chaos", and there is a sharp distinction between them.
- Gygax & Arneson, Men & Magic

OD&D mentions Law and Chaos with regard to a cleric's orientation. To me, this suggests a system of belief with a dualist cosmology. (Perhaps this is the actual state of the cosmos, but it doesn't have to be!) This is a moral dualism, as the two opposing forces or principles are in conflict. This could be interpreted (and perhaps is by some sects or particular faiths) as ditheistic with two gods or groups of gods in opposition, but I also think the broader, philosophical tradition could embrace transtheism, where the existence of Law and Chaos is a greater and more important truth than the existence or nonexistence of god-like beings/powers. 

The church of law is syncretic, incorporating deities as it grows as agents, exemplars, or aspects of Law. No doubt there would be historic disagreement (possibly even conflict) over just how much deference and attention these powers are rightly due.

Clerics/priests, given the hierarchical structure presented in OD&D, are important in public rituals and ceremonies of the belief system but are also likely interpreters and scholarly experts on Law. Each of these Patriarchs (and Matriarchs, probably, though OD&D doesn't mention them!) is independent and self-governing but in fellowship with the others (generally). Initially a Patriarch would be a charismatic leader who attracts followers, but presumably the church they founded would have a mechanism of choosing a successor. 

Patriarchs are the final arbiters of the commandments of Law within their area, but the Patriarchs of the various churches might vote to decide points between them, or perhaps different interpretations would reign in different jurisdictions. Another aspect of the high clerical function extremely relevant to adventuring is calling for and supporting crusades/jihad against Chaos. 

Speaking of Chaos, it does seem a bit odd it is presented with a hierarchical clerical structure identical to Law's. One possibility is the "anti-clerics" are sort of Satanists and just performatively mock the church of Law, but another possibility is that "Chaos" only speaks to its ultimate goals or cosmological beliefs, not to its organizing principles. It's also possible (even likely) that the Church of Law applies the name Chaos to a diverse group of belief systems that don't agree with it and often don't agree with each other. 

Wednesday Comics: DC, February 1984 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on newsstands around November 17, 1983.

Swamp Thing #21: I read this story first in Best of DC #61 (March 1985) along with the NTT story from last month and the LSH backup this month. It blew my mind at 12 years old, and it is still a great story today.  Swamp Thing has been transferred to Sunderland Corp for study and put in the hands of the Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue, who Moore and Bissette give a creepy update in a way that will set the standard for late 80s "more mature" updates. His dissections reveal that the Swamp Things vegetable replicas of human organs are nonfunctional. The bombshell reveal is that Swamp Thing is not, and never was, Alec Holland. He isn't a man transformed into a plant creature but rather unicellular life that mutated into a new organism thanks to the bio-restorative formula that just believed it was Holland after it consumed his remains. Woodrue leaves his notes where the Swamp Thing can find them. When it realizes the truth of its condition--that no cure is possible--it flies into a rage, breaks out of the lab, and kills Sutherland.

Power Lords #3: While there isn't a whole lot to the story here, Fleisher and Texiera/Marcos certainly bring the action. It's pretty much nonstop, and the art looks good. Fighting the forces of the badguys, the Power Lords realize they will soon be overrun and flee so that they can switch tactics. Arkus has called and assembly of worlds so they he can give his terms for their surrender, or they'll face the might of his battle station. Sydot and Shaya infiltrate the proceedings but get captured. Adam manages to defeat the enemy force in deep space and comes to the rescue. He assaults Volcan Rock itself, and defeats Raygoth, Gryptogg, and finally Arkus in one-on-one fights. The galaxy is saved, and the Power Lords disappear from comics for about 42 years.

Batman and the Outsiders #7: Barr and Aparo pick up right at last issue's cliffhanger. It looks like Batman and crew are popsicles, but Halo saw the cryonic attack coming and managed to turn her heat power on. Once she's out, she melts free her teammates. She also figures out Katana's sword is sentient and can lead them to where the Cryonic Man has taken her. They crash his lair and engage in battle before he can harvest Katana's organs. Speaking with the Cryonic Man's "family" telepathically, the team learns that they had put themselves in suspended animation in 1947 in order to survive the nuclear war they were sure was coming. Phillip (the Cryonic Man) was revived at a later date to insure that the threat had passed, but in the name of saving his wife from a progressive and ultimately fatal illness, he's being lying to them about the year and the conditions, playing for time. Learning the truth and that they were betrayed, the Cryonic Man's family strike him down with some sort of psychoelectric blast before allowing themselves to die.

Green Lantern #173: The cover announces the new creative team of Wein and Gibbons, though they started last issue. Hal is still getting reacquainted with life back on Earth and his old job, but all his old friends aren't glad to see him. Even after Hal saves Rich Davis' life, the man thinks to himself that Hal is going to spoil things. Clay Kendall is doing psionic experiments, which I'm sure will be fine. Meanwhile, the villain Javelin has been hired to hijack a truck heading to Ferris Aircraft and steal a new engine. Green Lantern intervenes, but the Javelin surprises him with an exploding javelin that coats Jordan in yellow plastic, cancelling his ring's ability to keep him flying!

Oh, and the Monitor and Lyla show up this issue, up to their (by all appearances) nefarious ends. The Monitor seems to be involved in weapons trafficking.

The Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Cavalieri and Gibbons is a silent/wordless story. It shows the events in the "life" of a ring, as a Lantern is killed in battle, but passes the ring on to a member of a primitive species on the planet where he crashed. The new Lantern uses the ring to advance his civilization and defend his people until he too falls in battle and the ring finds a successor.

Legion of Super-Heroes #308: Levitz, Giffen, and Mahlstedt continue the Prophet attack on Khundia. The biggest threat here, though, may be distrust and political division, as the six Legionnaires that followed him to fight him are viewed as someone complicit, and the rest of the Legion is forced to standdown or precipitate a wider diplomatic incident.

The real point of interest in this issue for me, though, is the Colossal Boy backup, "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?" by Levitz/Giffen with art by Tuska/Mahlstedt. As mentioned above, it's another one of the stories featured in that seminal (at least for me as a young comics reader) anthology Best of DC #61. This story is a nice bit of character stuff (no action at all) clearly riffing on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). It is slighter on social commentary than the equivalent story would be today, no doubt, but the fact that they did it at all in 1983 shows how comics were evolving. Rereading it in 2024, I was pleased with its humorous touches and the warmth of it that still works after 41 years.

Sgt. Rock #384: The main story is another of Kanigher's "honorable opponent; brutality of war" riffs with a canny Wehrmacht sergeant who seems Rock's match in both warcraft and honor going up against Easy, but ultimately losing, in part because the SS shelled his men and well as Rock's.  After that, there's a one page humor strip by Bilby (2nd of the 3 credits in his DC career), and a reprint from 1971 of a story of Egyptians versus Persians with moody art by Toth.

Supergirl #16: Kupperberg and Infantino/Oksner have Giffen's Ambush Bug guest star, a character whose first appearance Kupperberg scripted. The cover is by Giffen and Oksner. Ambush Bug breaks out of jail and decides to become a superhero instead of a villain. Otherwise, he's up to the same old silliness. He gets in the same of Supergirl trying to track down a Stradivarius violin stolen by the notorious musical instrument thief, the Bandit. After her friend Phil Decker is kidnapped, Supergirl discovers that the Bandit wants him to conduct an orchestra consisting of crooks playing all the various stolen instruments in the hopes of creating the supreme orchestra performance. Supergirl manages to stop him and bring Ambush Bug back into custody, though Ambush Bug sees through her secret I.D.

Thriller #4: This issue has a lot of action, and the visual storytelling light gives it a great feeling a breakneck pace. Unfortunately, beyond that sense of motion it's hard to make sense of what's going on except in broad strokes. Salvo plummets to his confrontation with Scabbard on a speeding train, while the other members of the 7 Seconds race to get in position as well. Salvo rescues Dan from Molly Lusk and knocks her out. Salvo goes to the top of the train where Scabbard is waiting with a detonator in his palm to blow up Salvo's and Angie's mother, Marietta. Dan almost falls to his death, Data gets stuck in the mud and he and Crackerjack may not make it in time. We keep jumping between close shots of the participants, as Salvo shoots off Scabbard's hand apparently (which Crackerjack catches), Beaker Parrish saves Dan, and a helicopter blade cuts off Scabbards head. Molly, shocked, pulls the emergency cord, and the train screeches to a halt, injuring Marietta. Beaker and Angie save her (somehow) by Angie inhabiting Beaker which melts his artificial flesh. The mysterious Quo shows up and switches Molly's and Marietta's eyes (or at least their eye color?), restoring Marietta's sight and making Molly blind. Our heroes go home.

Warlord #78: I covered the main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, Jinal and crew set out across the desert on lizard-back to find the advanced enclave that took down their salvaged starship. Unfortunately, they first run into an ambush by a group of slavers with a tank.

New Talent Showcase #2: The Kellogg/Mandrake Sky Dogs open this issue. It's more fast-paced but not terribly compelling derring-do, with Kidd and his crew trying to acquire the Crown of Siva and the Seven Jewels of Power but having to contend with the sorcerer Melin.

In the Klein/Hampton Class of 2064, Perrin is trying to get close to Chryse, which is trouble because the Free Earth extremists are after Chryse for something she unknowningly carries.  Chryse manages to escape them, but she's left stranded on their hot air balloon with no way to control it. Pern and Tycho still a small ship and race to the rescue.

Gary Kwapisz delivers the done-in-one "Danger Dungeon," a numerous story where a high school kid winds up in the dungeon fantasy setting of his daydreams. The jokes are stale, but there's an indie vibe to this one that gives it some charm.

Last up, Margopoulos/Woch continue Forever Amber. Our heroine manages to book passage to San Francisco, enduring sexual assault to get closer to her vengeance. She does turn their cargo of opium to amber in revenge as she leaves the ship... and immediately gets picked up by the cops!

A More Realistic Middle Earth

Listening to the History of the Germans podcast in episodes about the struggle for power between the Papacy and the Hofenstaufen Holy Roman Emperors, when reading a bit of a MERP supplement started me thinking about righting a post about a grittier, more realistic Middle Earth. Then I discovered I already sort of had written a post like that, back in 2020...

If we take The Silmarillion as Elvish mythology (which it is) promoting a slanted point of view, then most of the doings in Middle Earth are a proxy conflict between two super-powers: Sauron and his minions and the Valar and the Elves. We needn't assume either side is particularly good, In fact, we know the Valar unleashed a devastating weapon of mass destruction against their former allies in Numenor just for getting too cozy with Sauron.

In the modern era, Sauron's forces have been engaged in a protracted occupation of  Eriador. Through the action of the Mordor proxy Angmar, the Western kingdoms of Man were shattered, much of the population fled south, but fanatical bands, the Rangers, structured around the heir to throne of Arnor and Gondor, and supported by the Elves, continued to fight an insurgency against Mordor's Orcish forces and her allies.

Sauron has been a distant and not terribly effective leader for some time. He has been unable to consolidate Angmar's victory over Arnor (a victory that saw Angmar destroyed in the process) and unable to wipe out the remaining Elvish enclaves and human insurgents.

You get the idea. Shorn of much of its epic fantasy trappings, Middle Earth becomes a grittier place, where Men, Orcs, and local Elves, are all dealing with the aftermath of a terrible war wrought by super-powers that they perhaps only have the smallest of stakes in but yet are forced to take most of the risk.

Seems like an interesting place to adventure. It's certainly place where you can get a more interesting mix of adventurers and adventures, perhaps.